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DISCOURSE, 



COMUEMOKATIVE OT T:i!l 



HON. EDWARD EVERETT. 



PREACHED JANUARY 22, 1SG5, 



IN THB 



REFORMED DLTTCIICIIUIICII, GENEVA. 



BY CHAULES WILEY, 

TASTOU OF THE ClU'ItCII, 



Ac men qnidcm sontcntia, nemo jioferit os^o omni laiulc cumu'ntui 
Orator, nisi crit omnium reruni m;vgnarntnet a'tium 
scit-nliiini conatcutus. C"ic ilc Ofut. 



GENEVA: 

WU. JOHNSON, BOOK AND JOU phintkb. 

18Gj. 




Gr.SEVA, Feb. 1, 1805. 

Rev. Dr. "Wilet : 

Deau Siu; 

The scrmriii yon lately preached on tho 
life nnd character of the IIoii.Edwaud Evf.uett, decenseil, and which 
on rrquf!-t you repcntfd last Sal.l'ath, is so just, eloquent and iiistiuc- 
tivc, ilwt we tliink it ou'j:ht to be publi^lied. Will you ob igc us by 
furnishing a copy for publication. 

IlespcctfuUy yours, SAML. A. FOOT. 

WILLIAM E. BILL. 
TIIOS IIILLIIOUSE, 
CIIAS. J. FOLGER, 
M. II. PICOT, 
GEO. B.DU6INBERRE, 
ENOS KENT, 

ANGUS McDonald, 

PEREZ II. FIELD. 
GEO. BENNETT Ju. 



Geneva, Feb. 0, 18G5. 

Gentlemen : 

It affords me pleasure to be apprised that the sentiments 
and views I expressed on the occasion of Mr. Everett's death have 
met, on yon part, with an appreciative and anproving response. I 
think that we cannot do too much to show our estimation ot ))ublic 
virtue especially where it is accompanied, as in the present instance , 
with so much private excellence and worth. This consideration 
prompted mc to prepare the discourse you refer to, and thiscousidera- 
tion leads mc to yield to Y<.ur desire for its publication. 
Very truly and respectfully 

Yours, 

CHAS. WILEY. 

To Messrs. Saml. A. Foot, W. E. Sill, Tnos. HiLLnotjaE, CnAs. 
J. FoLOER, Angus McDonald, Enos Kent, and oihcra. 



DISCOURSE. 



PSALMS, XLIX: 12. 
Nevcrtbckss uian being in bonor abidctli not. 

Of this truth wc have had a recent impressive witness in the 
death of an ilhi.^trious citizen of our Country, one whose promi- 
nonce and distinction for nearly half a century entitles him to 
some special notice and coninicnioration. AN'hcn a name has 
bscome National by its wide-spread repute and by being long 
associated with public life, we cannot but view its extinction 
with profound regret. Its disappearance from the roll of the 
living, aft'ccts us like the removal of a familiar light from before 
oar eyes, the displacement from the firmament of a prominent 
and conspicuous star. W'c feel as if we could not turn again 
to the occupations of ordinary life without j)ausing for a few 
moments in desirousncss and sorrowful musing over the melan- 
c'.ioly and nmch regretted occurrence. Who did not feel thus 
at the recent announcement of the death of Mr. Evcrett, a 
n.inie not only connected conspicuously with the public history 
of the Country, but associated also reputably with its literature, 
and having a prominent place in the republic of letters and the 
general department of gracel'ul and elegant learning! AViien 
the great Komau Orator was descanting on the advantages of 



t 



8 



learning, in his eloquent plea in the behalf of tlie poet Archias, 
he pauses in his discourse to pay a passing tribute to a man of 
letters and accomplishments, whose death had recently occured. 
He speaks of his decease with a feeling of true and tender re- 
spect. "Who of us,'" he exclaims, "had so little sensibility 
and possessed so little cultivation and retinement as not to be 
moved lately by the death of lloscius, who. though he died at 
a very advanced age, yet on account of his admirable profes- 
sional skill and inimitable grace, seemed as if he ought never 
to have died at all."" Very similar to this is the feeling we have 
in regard to the public loss to whicli wc now refer ; and we think it 
not unmeet to devote a few moments to some appropriate rcflcc- 
llons that may be suggested by it. Amid.?t the turmoil of our 
public tifhiirs, and the unwonted excitement and agitation of the 
time.?, the march of armies and the assault and capture of the 
defenses of public enemies, the voice of death speaks to us from 
the retirement of private life, and calls us to thoughlfulnes3 
■and self-recollection. Let us listen to its lessons and admoni- 
tions. 

The general thought upon which I propose to dwell as sug- 
gested by this event is, the value that belongs to men of eml" 
nent gifts and attainments and the just estimatiofi in which 
'i/ieg are entitled to he held. I wish to present some reasons 
Avhy we should hold such men in esteem and accord to their 
memories some tribute of special regard. A\'e sliall be led 
.hereby iiito a train of meditations to which the j)rovidencc of 
•God appears naturally to invite us at the present time. 

I. We ought to esteem the men of eminent gifts and attain- 
ments, if for no other reason, because theg add to the lustre and 
digait'j of our common nature and exalt our ideas of its ca- 
j)abiltties. 

AVe must distinguish, my hearers, between the vicious scnti- 
iuent of pride and self-esteem and a just estimate of tho 
proper dignity and worth of our nature itself. The former is a 
,peniiciou3 aud undesirable feeling that needs in most instances 



\ 



I 



{i 



to be curtailed and rcjjrcssed ; but llio latter is a salutary and 
useful sentiment that cannot be too strongly entertained and 
cultivated. In our present unprojiitious state as fallen and im- 
perfect beings, the examples of Imnian nature that are com- 
monly found arc not of a very flattering character. We meet 
with much ignorance and degradation among men, much intel- 
lectual and moral debasement, and a very common aildictcd- 
ness to grovelling ideas and pursuits ; and were our attention to 
be confined only to these specimens of human nature, we should 
be obliged to entertain but a poor opinion of the worth of the 
eo'iimon si)ccics. AVe have to look away from these to the Ijct 
ter models and exhibitions of our nature in order to Ijc im_ 
pressed with its proper dignity. AVe have to turnourattention 
to the more conspicuous examples of mental and moral endow- 
ment in order to be apprised of the capabilities that belong to 
the human constitution and character. And in this point of 
view, how nuich may a single individual of eminent abilities 
and true moral characteristics contribute to raise the general 
standard of human nature I Take such a man as Washing-ton. 
for example, as an individual specimen of the common species ; 
is not the whole race, as it were, ennobled and put upon a hi'di- 
cr level by the majestic proportions of his intellectual and mor- 
al character! Is not human nature itself Bcan under a better 
and more favorable aspect through the medium of this ex- 
alted model? and the same effect is produced by all the better 
and higher exhibitions of human character and attainment in all 
the different branches of mental and moral excellence ; the 
Newtons, the Howards, the Luthers, the Pauls of our race, tho 
men who stand above the conmion level of the species and at- 
tract to themselves the homage of a general esteem. These 
persons not only served the generation with which they were 
immediately connected ; they possess the character of rejjre- 
scntaiive men. They have shed a lustre and a distinction upon 
lumian nature itself. And this is true in a degree of all tho 
men of eminent (pialifications and gifts. They are entitled to 



10 



our esteem for their intrinsic excellence. We see in tliem the- 
best developements and exhibitions of our common nature and 
are led to transfer to the race at large something of the respect 
and reverence that are hispired by its worthier examples and its 
higher models. But not to dwell on this point I observe 

11. We ought to esteem the men of eminent gifts and at- 
tainments ^/br Me place they fill and the 2)Cirt they j^eyfortn 
in the general ecoriomyof ourjniblic antisocial state. 

The well-being of society and the prosperous conduct of ita 
affairs demand the exercise and employment of gifted minds and 
the' use of large and liberal attainments in knowledge and learn 
ino-. We must have, for tiie common welfare, not only the laborer 
and the artizan, the agriculturist and the merchant ; but we must 
have the statesman and the orator, the historian and the poet. 
All the varieties of talent and accomplishments are necessary in> 
order to work out the problem of a happy and prosperous social 
state and condition. It is in this respect with the structure and 
editice of human society as it is with any other sightly or use- 
ful structure. It must have a foundation of broader and more 
durable material ; it must have intermediate parts of solid and 
substantial appearance ; and it must have also' points of orna- 
mental prominence pleasing to the eye and fitted to give an 
air of attractiveness and beauty to the whole united building ; 
the column, the capital the entablature and the cornice ; or to 
use the image of the Apostle in another application, "in » 
great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but 
also of wood and of earth and some to honor and some to dishon- 
or." Those whom God has specially endowed or who have 
fitted themselves by their own exertions for places of promi- 
nence in the social organization, are the vessels of gold and of 
silver in the "great house" of the common Republic. They are 
the polished shafts and the Corinthian capitals in the orderly 
and graceful structure of human society. We cannot do with- 
out them any more than we can do without the hardier hands and 
the homelier virtues and abilities of the great masses that 



11 

compose the solid edifice. Tlicrc arc crises in the state tliat dc- 
maiid the cininciit (luaUticatioiis of a llainilton or a Wcb.stcr. 
There arc functions of juri.^prndencc to he j)crfonncd tliatrocjuirc 
the judicial integrity and comprehensive intellect of a Jay or 
a Marshall. There arc services of di])lomac7 to be fulfilled 
abroad that can be most successfully carried through by the skill, 
urbanity and courtly manners of an Abbott Lawrence or an 
Edward Everett ; and as these men di.>ai)pear Irom the stage 
ot life, after havhig discharged the public lunctions for which 
Providence evidently designed and iitted them, they are to be 
esteemed not only for what they were in themselves, but tor 
the usefid and necessary parts they i)crformed in the conduct of 
our public aiKiirs. We owe them the meed of our gratitude 
and approbation as the instruments of averting public disasters 
and securing and perpetuating public benefits and blessings. 
We feci that they have not only adorned the spheres in which 
thev moved, but that they have had a necessary place in the 
prosperous and successful administration of the whole problem 
of our social condition and organization. 

in. Men of eminent gifts and attainments are to be 
esteemed for their salutary injlaence on the community at 
large, where that injiuence has been favorable to pitblic morals 
and to private virtue. 

It is natural for us to view with admiration great intellectu- 
al endowments and to accord a willing homage to those whose 
learning and talents have placed them above the ordinary level 
of mankind. They occupy a position that attracts toward them 
the general attention and makes tlieir deportment and character 
to be universally known and observed. The young especially 
are apt to look to their example, and to be favorably or un- 
favorably affected by the moral complexion of their conduct 
and lives. They have it in their power with the greatest 
ease to insinuate into the minds of the young, ideas and im- 
pressions of a salutary or hurtful character according as they 
themselves arc exemplary or otherwise in their personal deport- 



12 



mcnt and lives. The sanction of a great name, the sway of 
eminent talents, the prestige of a distinguished social posi- 
tion, how potential these things are with the multitude, how 
irresistible to the youthful and inex})erienced raind. The 
very admiration which the great men of the world excite, opens 
the way for the easy reception of their principles and examples 
How much then are those to be esteemed whose example has 
been salutary and whose principles have been favorable to pub- 
lic virtue and private integrity ! What a rich blessing to the 
community are the men, who being endowed witli eminent gifts 
and distinguished learning, have thrown the weight of their 
great abilities and attainments on the side of public morals and 
the social and domestic virtues ! Let a man have stood for 
forty or fifty years in the community conspicuous for emi- 
nent endowments and distinguished for his social position, 
the acknowledgd peer of the best and higliest in tlie land in 
all the qualifications that can adorn and dignify our temporal 
and earthly state, and from this exalted position let him 
have sent forth the savor of an untainted name and the in- 
fluence of an unsullied reputation so that during all this pe- 
riod no whisper of reproach and no insinuation of detraction 
ever circulated around his unblemished life, let him have ex- 
erted uniformly his great and legitimate authority and influ- 
ence in favor of public virtue and every thing tliat is of good 
report, and can we attribute too much importance and value 
to so great and beneficent an example ; can we estimate too 
highly eminent gifts put to so good a use and employed with 
such salutary effect to advance the welfare of the commu- 
nity in which they are exercised! Surely such persons are 
entitled to the highest consideration as the dispensers far and 
wide of a happy moral influence from the advantage of a con- 
spicuous and elevated position. It is only a just meed of rec- 
ompense that is due to them that we should honor them while 
they live, and when they die, should pause in reverential hom- 
age and esteem over the memory of their departed excel- 
lence and worth. 



13 

These remarks will not be regarded as otlierwise than ap- 
propriate in view ot" the announcement rccenlly made of the 
death ot" one of the foremost men of the nation, one who had 
in some respects no living superior — Ei>WAiu> EvEUE'rr of Mas- 
sachusetts — a man of rich endowments, of rare culture and 
of unsullied virtue and integrity. lie comes fully within the 
conditions we have mentioned as entitling a n:iin to the public 
estimation and regard. By the lustre and dignity he has ad- 
ded to our connnon nature, by the places he has successfully and 
honorably tilled in the public economy of our social state, and 
by the propitious influence he has exerted upon the public 
morals of the community, he has won for himself a wide and 
general consideration and esteem. Since the removal of the 
eminent men with whom he was more immediately associated 
in public life he has stood alone amongst us as the reprensen- 
tative, as he was also the worthy compeer, of the distinguished ' 
statesmen and orators of the generation just gone by. His own 
intellectual proportions have seemed to be greater since he has 
been relieved of the contrast and comparison with the men 
of might amongst whom he lived and acted, those giants of the 
forum and of the public assembly that have never been sur- 
passed in any age ; and we have cherished his presence amongst 
us as the interesting survivor of the earlier days of the repub- 
lic. At len2;th death has come to claim the universal forfeit 
and to verify the declaration of the Scripture that "man being 
in honor abideth not," and the nation lingers for a moment 
amidst the tumult of the times, to bend in sorrowful retiection 
over the bier of one more of her illustrious sons. 

In estimating the claims of Mr. Eveultt to special consider- 
ation and regard, there are three principal particulars that will 
occur at ouce to the attention of every mind. 

1st. — In the first place he was a man of extraordinary ac- 
C07n2)lishnients^ a m%n of a. loidd and general culture, such as 
is attained by very few persons In the same measures and de- 
grees. 



14 



Possessed by nature of an imposing and graceful person 
and endowed with a vigorous and well proportioned intellect, 
hf^ presented a harmonious whole in body and mind that laid 
the foundation of a noble development. These natural advan- 
tages were supplemented and aided by the best opportunities of 
education and personal improvement, lie enjoyed the means 
of carrying to any point of perfection the work of a thorough 
selt-discipline, so as tojgive the fullest scope to the invigoration 
of the intellect, the unfolding of the imagination and the cul- 
tivation of the tastes ; and the result he actually reached in an ex- 
tended and successful self-cultivation, showed that he made the 
most diligent use of the advantages he enjoyed. He seems 
indeed to have traversed every branch of knowledge and to have 
familiarized himself with every mode and description of person- 
al culture. He was at home in the fields of classical and 
•modern literature, conversant more than is usual with the 
elegant arts, and not unacquainted with the severer studies of 
professional life. He addicted himself to the circles of intele 
ligent and refined society, and received the impress from these 
sources of geniality and ease of deportment that marked and 
distinsiuished him He became a "model man" in all the 
qualifications that fitted him to adorn and dignify the highest 
spheres ot our earthly life. In short, had tJie j)robIem been 
given to work out in the person of some tit and well-chosen indi- 
vidual the last possible results of a thorough and harmonious 
culture, a happy and felicitous self-discipline as regards th- 
present earthly state, that problem would have been solved in 
the late distinguished sou of New England, the companion of 
Webster and Choate, the eulogist of Washington, the fit repre- 
sentative at the court of ^St. James of the possible refinement 
and grace of a purely republican origin and education. Every 
one will easily recognize tliis as a prominent characteristic of Mr. 
Everett. Jle was a min of accomjjilshrasnts,, of extendjil 
and various culture, such as fitted him in a high degree for 
the ornamental spheres of life. 



15 



2(1. — A"-iun, Mr. Iuvi:ri:tt whs a ina:i of w/cei and diatin- 
g^tif/iel oratortj and ehxjinnce. In (cvfaiii brandies of ora- 
tory and conimcnioralivc eloquence, indrcil, lie ■was without a 
rival or a superior. Whoever listened to Iiini as the comniem- 
orator of some great national event or the eulogist of the illus- 
trious dead, without being ehamicd ^\itil the rjtlini ot his sen- 
tences, the ehoiceness of his language, the propriety and rich- 
ness of his thoughts, the faultless grace and aj)propriateness of 
his action. !Ie did not appear perha])S, to the highest advan- 
tii<»'e in the arena of public debate at the times when the public 
councils of the country were agitated with the great questions of 
vital national import and concem. lie left it to a dift'erent 
and more hardy class of minds to grapple with the spirit of stormy 
intellectual contiict on the floor of the national senate. Hut in the 
sphere of ornamental and ceremonial elocution that was designed 
to call up the memory of the past or to record with fitting com- 
memmoralion the virtues of deceased patriots and heroes, who 
could excel him ! with what ease did he enter into such themes 
and with what aptitude did he treat them; With what wealth 
of imagery, with what richness of diction, with what copiousness 
of thought and fullness of discussion did he illustrateand adorn 
them I In his more successful eHbrts of this kind he thoroughly 
captivated the minds of his auditors and held them spell- 
bound and entranced by his marvelous elocution. 

Ilis words seemed oracles 
That pierced tlitir bosoms ; and each man would turn 
And gaze witli wonder on liis neiijhbor'sface, 
That with the like dumb wonder answered him. 

You could have heard 
The beating of your pulses when he spoke. 

As the eulogist of Washington, especially, he has left be- 
hind him every competitor in the same department of oratory., 
The orator and the theme seemed to be made for one another. The 
illustrious subject in the majesty of his character and in the 
Komau dignity and firmness of his unsullied patriotism and 
TJrtuc, called out to the full the powers of the appreciative and 



16 



susceptible delineator and the noble picture of the Father of his 
Country stands before us touched by the magic of the writer's 
pen and glowing with the exact and truthful character of the 
living original. It may be safely alleged that there is not em- 
. bodied in all human speech a richer specimen of commemora- 
tive oratory than this magniticent Eulogy of the One unap- 
proachable American Hero and Patriot. 

3d.^ — It only remains to speak of ]\Ir, Everett as a Tnan of 
j)tihllc virtue and genuine patriotism — a character which no 
one can fail to accord to him who calmly contemplates his 
course ; and which recent events have placed in the very strong- 
est light. He had his own views of public policy, indeed, and 
the leaning of his mind was naf urally to the side of conserva- 
tism rather than to measures of an experimental and radical 
ciiaracter. But deeper than all burned the pure flame of a 
genuine love of country and a true and enlarged devotion to the 
public interest. There was a period, indeed, in his public ca- 
reer when he labored under the imputation of a timid and over 
cautious disposition that led him to yield too readily to the ex- 
acting demands and the imperious spirit of the southern section 
of the country. It was thought by many who were only par- 
tially informed of the critical condition of the national affairs, 
that the course of Mr. Everett as a public man, was character- 
ized at times by a phase and aspect of weakness, a temper of 
unlimited conciliation and compromise towards those who un- 
duly magnified and urged the claims of their own local and 
sectional interests. But more recent events have cleared this 
matter up and have placed his character before us in a more 
just and unambiguous light. The truth is, he was thoroughly 
cognizant of the secret designs of the South. He had a nearer 
and deeper insight into their unscrupulous purposes and plans 
than most others had wdio were without his opportunities of 
knowledge. He had put his ear to the gi^ound, as it were, and 
heard the rumblings of that earthquake whose open eruptions 
have since spread desolation over the land : and he was con- 



stniitie.il under tiic ever-thiciteiied and evei--linp3iuliiigc:ilamitv- 
ot' a violent disruption of tlic national bond.-?, to go to almo.st 
any length of concession and compliance in intercepting the 
secret purposes of evil minded and impracticaLle men. I know 
of nothing indeed more truly touching than the account he him- 
self gives of his own personal labors undertaken with a view 
of repressing sectionalism and evoking the spirit of Patriotism 
throughout the country. It was no small labor at his period 
of life to traverse, as he did, the length and breadth of the 
land in the unrequited and gratuitous work of calling up the 
memories of the past and kindling anew before the image and 
presence of the Father of his Country the well-nigh extinguished 
s}>ark of patriotic union and love of country. It was a labor 
of love that indicated the depth and fervor of his own patriotic 
devotion. 

But when he found that all would not do, when be perceived 
the councils of reason to be rejected and the expostulations 'of 
patriotism to be unheeded and unheard in the madueis of the 
liour, when he saw the foul spirit of secession to develop itself 
in the pre-determined and actual disruption and disintegration 
of the nation, he no longer hesitated as to the dictates of patri- 
otic duty. lie promptly ranged himself on the side of order, 
on the side of legitimate government, on the side of national 
imity, and took his stand calmly and firmly beneath the folds 
of that endeared and familiar symbol that represents justice 
fl-nd impartial liberty to all; and up to the very moment of his 
<leath almost, ceased not to bestow his strength and energies in 
the supj)ort of the national cause ; and I may remark 
here that there was a peculiar felicity in the latest public utter- 
ances of Mr. Everett, those which he made just before liis 
death in support of the movement to send aid to the suffering 
population of Savannah. His remarks on tljat occasion were 
conceived in the most tender mood of christian kindness and 
at the same time animated by the loftiest patriotism. With 
death immediately and consciously in his eye, he could not have 



18 



uttered hiinself in more fitting and appproprlate terms. In the 
ardor of his closing appeal he exclaims, "For Heaven's sake, my 
friend,^, let us seek to win these bloodless victories, saddened by 
no parent's bereavment, no widow's tears. While we subdue 
the armies which a merciless conscription of old and young drives 
to the field and maintain a cordon of iron and of fire around the 
shores of a persistant rebellion, — from the moment a desire is 
manifested on the part of the masses to acknowledge the au- 
thority of the government, let us hasten to extend to them the 
right hand of christian love, to supply their wants and ^to re- 
lieve their sufferings, and to mark their return to the union by 
the retm-n of a prosperity to which, by the selfish and cruel 
ambition of their leaders, they ,;^have so long been strangers." 
Yes, he was a true and large hearted patriot, and heaven kindly 
granted him, before he was called to die, to see the clear indi- 
cations and tokens of the speedy restoration and establishment 
of the national unity and life. 

These are some of the leading features and characteristics of 
one who has stood amongst us for nearly half a century a "rep- 
resentative man," one adorned with all the attractive quahties 
that could be derived from natural endowments as well as a 
most studious and careful cultivation, and who filled with ad- 
mirable fitness and propriety the various important stiitions he 
was called to occupy. Of his more private character I do not 
design to speak further than to say that it was in harmony with 
liis pubhc demeanor, and deportment. It was marked, accor- 
ding to every testimony we have, with all the amenities and 
proprieties of a cultivated sooial life and was carefully con^ 
formed to those lessons of christian morality that have their 
sanction aud authority in the word of God. Fain wonhl w& 
liave retained amongst us stil! so iioble a specimen of our 
human nature, and loth are we to l)clieve that the witherinsr 
hand of death has touched and blighted so much intellectual 
excellence and so much moral beauty and worth. But "man 
being in honor abidetli not." There is no feature of pcrma- 



« 
^ 



n 



19 



nancy pertaining to the. liiglicr conditions of Innnau life any 
more tlian to the less conspicnons. 'J'he sainu inexorable law 
of niort:ility is appointed for aU. 1 he time 'must come when 
the scene must close, when the drama of life must end, and 
when those who have performed conspicuous parts as well as 
those who have sustained inferior characters nuist disappear 
from the common stage of human existence. There is no reason 
indeed, in the nature of things, why death should nor make liis. 
approaches to one as much as to another There is no differ- 
ence in point of tact between the noble and the beggar, between 
one of elevated rank and one in humble circumstances, as re- 
gards their relative exposure to attacks of the universal de- 
stroyer. But the difference is great in the emphasis and so- 
lemnity of the impression The same law of gi-avitation brings 
to the ground objects that are small and those of more imposing 
dimensions; the detached leaf, the withered branch and the 
whole body of the smitten and tottering oak. 33ut how much 
greater the shock and the impression when the majestic tree 
itself comes do\\Ti than when some light and less conspicuous 
object falls ; and it is the same with the universal law of death. 
It touches all alike, but we see and we feel it more when it 
strikes some majestic and conspicuous forai. When we wit- 
ness the approach of death to one high in station and sur- 
rounded with all the advantages and distinctions that are fitted 
to embehsh the scene of life and to enhance its value, when 
death attacks some person of princely mien among men, when he 
lays his crushing hand upon the matured intellect, the ripened 
echolarsliip, the rich accomplishments that years have collected 
and clustered upon a single head, and by one ruthless blow 
lays in the dust that distinguished and honored head, we re- 
ceive an impression of his terror and sternness and power alto- 
gether beyond our ordinary conception. We feel that there is 
an agency of destruction and decay in our world, b'^fore which 
the high and the low, the noble and tlic mean alike must bow. 
There is such an agency my friends. 



2<J 



The boast of heraldry, tlit pomp of power, 
And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave 

Av.-ait, alike the inevitable hour 
The paths of glory lead but to the grave. 

Are ?/(9t^' prepared for that ineveitablc hour! Let the les- 
sons that comes to us to day from the eminent station of the 
deceased penetrate your hearts! Think not that you will be 
able long to escape the withering touch of that pale sceptre, 
before which the richest endowments and the most cplendid 
earthly state are blasted in a moment ! Remember that when 
the lime arrives it will kno\v no obstacle, it will acknowledge no 
impediments to its inexorable decree. Your only resource 
is in Him who is the conqueror of sin and who carries the 
keys of hell and of death. He alone can disarm the powers of 
the destroyer and disperse the darkness and^^captlvity of tlie 
tomb. 



;t 



A 



DISCOURSE 



COMMEMORATIVE OF THK 



HON. EDWARD EYERETT, 



PREACHED JANUARY 22, 1865, 



IN THE 



REFORMED DUTCH CHURCH, GENEVA. 



BY CHARLES WILEY, 



PASTOK OF THE CHURCH. 



Ac mea quidem sentenia, nemo poterit esse oinni laude cumulatu8 
Orator, nisi erit omniuin rerum magnaruiM et a'tium 



scieutiiini cousecutus. Cic lie Orat. 



GENEVA: 

WM. JOHNSON, BOOK AND JOB PRINTER. 

1865. 



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